This Winchester Model 1873 .22 Rimfire Rifle was manufactured in 1902. This rifle is accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter that describes the rifle as: "Type: Rifle, Caliber: 22L, Barrel Type: Round" and "Trigger: Plain" and shipped from Winchester on February 6, 1902. The rifle has the second style, flared, spring steel magazine tube. The 24-inch round barrel has a standard sporting style front sight with nickel silver blade and sporting style buckhorn rear sight with screw-adjustable center piece. The upper receiver tang is factory drilled and tapped. The Third Model receiver has the integral dust cover guide and dust cover with serrated rear edges. The receiver has the "step" at the junction with the barrel found on .38, .32 and .22 caliber rifles and lacks the loading port on the right side found on center-fire Model 1873 rifles and carbines. The barrel and magazine have blue finish. The forearm cap receiver, sideplates and dust cover are bright blue. The hammer, lever and crescent buttplate are color casehardened. The stock and forearm are straight grain American walnut with a semi-gloss varnish or oil finish. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped with the two-line legend: "WINCHESTER'S REPEATING ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT./KING'S IMPROVEMENT PATENTED MARCH 29. 1866. OCTOBER 16. 1860." ahead of the rear sight. The caliber, "22 LONG", is stamped on the top of the barrel just ahead of the receiver. The upper receiver tang is roll-stamped: "-MODEL. 1873.-" in fancy letters with foliate devices at either end. "22 CAL./LONG" is stamped in script letters in two lines across the bottom of the brass cartridge elevator. The serial number is stamped in script letters on the lower tang between the lever latch and rear tang screw.

Excellent. This rifle is all original and retains 90% plus of the bright original blue and color casehardened finishes. Nearly all of the blue finish remains on the barrel and magazine. The barrel markings are crisp. The forearm cap retains nearly all of the bright blue finish. The receiver and sideplates have 90% of the bright blue finish with light scratches on the left front of the receiver. The dust cover retains 90% of the bright blue finish with some light edge wear. The hammer has 95% of the subdued case colors. The case colors on the lever and trigger have silvered and 70% remain in protected areas. The case colors on the crescent buttplate have faded to a mottled silver-gray and 70% remain. The stock and forearm remain in excellent overall condition and retain 90% plus of the semi-gloss finish with a few very minor storage and handling marks. This is an excellent example of the first Winchester .22 caliber rifle and the first .22 caliber repeating rifle manufactured in the United States.